Patch 2.3 has been out for a week now, and players have seen the impact certain changes are making in the Arena scene. From Hunter changes of Aim Shot and Arcane Shot, to the hemo change for Rogues (which has raised a lot of controversy among many). There was one big change I know I was looking forward to however, and I am sure many other healers were, the addition of spell damage to healing gear. Theories were brought up of how much of an effect it actually would have in arena play, ranging from “it wouldn’t be great at all because without the spell damage talents it won’t matter”, to “classes such as Shamans could spec Elemental and just wear Restoration gear”. This weekend however, I put the theories to test, playing a restoration Shaman in a 2v2 makeup paired with a Rogue. Pre 2.3 this lineup was not popular for several reasons, however now I have experienced several scenarios to take advantage of the patch changes.

In 2v2 Arena, the more popular lineups for Rogues are usually with another DPS, especially as of lately due to the popularity of Warrior/Druid teams. Whether it be with a Mage, Shadow Priest, or a Warlock, it’s usually one of the three. Holy priest and Rogue were popular earlier on in the season, but for the same reason that caused the raise of 2 DPS teams, die out near the end. But, why not combine the best of both worlds, and get a Restoration shaman in Resto gear that can heal like crazy when need be, but can also add burst damage when called for as well; even without elemental talents! This was the theory brought up when beginning our lineup of Restoration Shaman and Rogue. When you first look at it, obviously without talents it can be tough to add a good amount of burst damage from Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning. But with the 0.5 seconds off of both of these casts from patch 2.3, it reduced the casting time of Chain Lightning to 2 seconds, and Lightning Bolt to 2.5 seconds. This change combined with the added spell damage to healing gear, has resulted in some pretty nice damage bursts. Although we have by no means mastered this lineup, we have run into some decent competition at a 2100 rating, including the popular lineups. Here are a couple of scenarios of how and when to use burst in certain situations and against what lineups. I will use first person in the scenarios, and when I do, it is referring to the Restoration Shaman, and my partner is of course Ziss, who plays a Rogue.

Warrior/Druid

Obviously a very dominating lineup in the 2v2 bracket, we knew this would be one of our toughest competitions when starting this team. With the Warrior being a great damage output on a Rogue, and a Druid healer who should outlast a Shaman healer, especially in this battle, we knew it was going to be an uphill battle for us.

Once noticing the lineup we are up against (now easy thanks to being able to see MotW, Thorns buffs), I begin to Purge off the couple of buffs on the Warrior who will then usually Charge/Intercept me. Ziss will then wait a couple of seconds, just to see if the Druid will jump out, but if not he will then proceed to open up on the Warrior. As soon as Ziss CS, I will usually step back and start to assist some damage on the Warrior with a Lightning Bolt and Earth Shock to force the Druid to pop out and start healing. As soon as he does, Ziss will then go and Blind the Druid, and continue to damage the Warrior. By this time, the Warrior should be switching to defensive play, and the Druid will trinket out of the Blind to keep his teammate up. When that happens, Ziss will then stay on the Warrior, using Evasion and Ghostly Strike to prevent burst damage from the Warrior. While he is doing that, I will prevent the Druid from casting Cyclone on either one of us with the use of rank 1 Earth Shock and Grounding Totem. I will also be sure to keep Purges up on the Warrior whenever an Abolish Poison is put up. One of the biggest weaknesses of the new AR/Hemo Rogue spec is the lack of Poison Talents, which make them very easy to remove, and hard to get on the target in the first place, so keeping Abolish Poison off is more key than ever. As time goes on, the Druid will be draining his mana throwing out HoT heals and what not, while I will refrain from doing damage during this phase, as it is just a waste of mana as long as the Druid is not being CC’d. I will continue with the rotation of interrupting and healing Ziss, and the second his 1.5 minute Blind cooldown is up, he will then go and Blind the Druid again. This is huge, because with Blind now being a physical ability, an abolish poison cannot get rid of it. With PvP trinket still on 30 seconds more of cooldown, it gives you time to burst.

This is where I shine with my spell damage, as I proceed to cast Lightning Bolt twice, and then finish with a NS+CL to Earth Shock combo. This will usually put out around 4k damage, and with the addition of Ziss pounding on Warrior with AR during that whole time, the Warrior will die before the Blind wears off. The addition of Vanish to Sap on Druid just further ensures the kill. From our experience so far, we have been very successful with this strategy. This may be a similar strategy to a two DPS lineup of Rogue and another, but the Restoration Shaman brings the survivability to buy time for it to work. I just keep my Earth Shield up on Ziss and heal when I need to, which really shouldn’t be that often with all of the dodging he does with Evasion and Ghostly Strike.

Warlock/Druid

Another popular lineup played especially in high end competition, so we put together a strategy to beat them as well. Unlike the Warrior/Druid combo, I can actually play the outlast battle against the Druid healer because of another big change in patch 2.3; the Water Shield change. The change reduced the mana cost of Water Shield to 0 and now returns 211 mana per charge! Because most Warlocks have not adjusted to this change yet, they will proceed to stick the Fel Hunter on me, and I love it. Yes, it will occasionally Devour the Water Shield off, but I just recast it because of the 0 mana cost. Also, using a global cooldown against a SL/SL warlock isn’t a big deal, there’s no big burst to worry about, especially if your Rogue was able to stick on their Warlock. So again, the same strategy applies with the Blinding the Druid off the bat, then proceeding to DPS the Warlock as much as possible. Hopefully the Druid trinkets, but we are not surprised if he does not. If that is the case, game of outlasting begins, and Ziss just remains on the Warlock while I interrupt/Grounding Cyclones/Entangle Roots and Purge off Abolish Poison. Also, because the Warlock is going to attempt to kite the Rogue obviously, I will throw in a Rank 1 Frost Shock when needed to help Ziss catch up to the Warlock. Aside from Amped Curse of Exhaustion, Frost Shock is stronger.

I will also play in the open, taking advantage of the Restoration Shaman offensive play-style while the Druid will most likely attempt to Line of Sight my interrupts. Any attempt from the Warlock to Drain Mana, will be interrupted by Ziss from either Kick or Kidney Shot. And sure I may be putting myself in the open to be dotted up, but the damage is usually so minimal and can easily be healed through if need be. I will keep water shield up at all times, and whether it be the Fel Hunter hitting me to give me back mana, or the Warlock throwing up dots to proc it, my mana should never be much of a problem. I will look to also chase down the Druid, and prevent him/her from getting out of combat and drinking, along with Purging off any chance of Innervate buff. If we play it well, and if interrupts and Purges are kept up on both targets, this can result in an easy win for our team, surprisingly. Once the Druid eventually does run out of mana, I will use whatever is left to help burn down the Warlock, along with saving Bloodlust for this moment as well. There is no point to burn Bloodlust early, as it’s just a waste of mana and really won’t have much effect early game.

As you can see from these two match-ups, the new addition of spell damage on healing gear is very useful especially for the Restoration Shaman. Although it may not make much of a difference facing other lineups, such as two DPS lineups, it gives the Restoration Shaman more options to choose from when fighting in 2v2 arena. Although I have not yet attempted Restoration in 3v3 or 5v5 arena yet, I do plan on doing it in the near future and expect similar results to that I found from this last weekend in 2v2. I know the Restoration Shaman wasn’t the only healer to get this buff, but I feel that they got the biggest out of it for several reasons, including; The Water Shield change, which can make them much more mana efficient (thus having enough mana to spare to DPS), 0.5 seconds off both Chain Lightning and Lightning Bolt, and the Restoration Talent of Nature’s Blessing (increases the amount of Spell Damage and Healing done by 30% of your Intellect). But that is not to say that other healers cannot take advantage of this change, because I am sure there are several abilities that got buffed from this change for other healers as well, I just have not been able to experience them myself.

Also, there were a couple of helpful things I picked up while experimenting with this lineup and the change. One was using a Spell Damage burst trinket, such as the Icon of the Silver Crescent as my trinket, rather than a healing one, just to get that little extra damage output there when going for the burst. Also, I was able to make macros for my spells such as Lesser Healing Wave and Lightning Bolt, where whenever I was casting a heal, it would equip my healing mace/shield, and when I attempt to cast a damage ability, it would equip my spell damage dagger/shield. So check it out, see what you guys think of this new addition from the patch, and see what lineups and strategies you can come up with.

Tags: Shaman · Rogue · 2v2 · Articles

25 Responses to “2v2 Arena: Rogue & Shaman, Part 1???”

1. Totems Sucks Says:
   November 19th, 2007 at 8:49 pm

   Very nice article, I know this change for cast time was nice for resto and enh shamans but kinda sucks for elemental. I loved the article and plan on gearing up s3 with resto gear.

2. Breaky Says:
   November 19th, 2007 at 8:54 pm

   Heh ya, I plan on gearing resto as well, and perhaps using at least two pieces of resto for the extra resilience if I decide to go elemental for 5v5.

   And thanks for the compliment =D.

3. Happypanda Says:
   November 19th, 2007 at 10:12 pm

   Great article, i remember i got 1982 rating in full blues with 2/5 merc on my warlock with a holy priest partner in blues aswell (and some greens), and those bloody rogue/shaman combo’s always got us.

   Two days ago i just reached my shaman to 70 and have started to arena with a hunter both of us are in full PvE blues and greens from quests without pretty much 0 resilience (lol)seems to work well in the low brackets with me staying back in ghost then running out and kiting one of their targets so the hunter can remain kiting the other. We reached 1700 and know have hit a gear barrier so hopefully i can gear up and hit 2k+ in the future of S3…. but anyways onto my question (man i talk too much) When is the perfect time to lay down your totems, do you lay down windfury totem ASAP when your rogue is trying to burst someone down or at the beginning of any fight?

   and with that dreaded warrior/druid combo, what would be your scenario or plan if the warrior were to sit on you with a hamstring up always and constant intercepts making him almost impossible to kite?

   From the new shaman PvP’er

4. okp Says:
   November 19th, 2007 at 10:37 pm

   With regards to windfury with a rogue partner, he wouldn’t be placing it down. Since the rogue will have poisons on both weapons, he won’t be getting the buff.
   My shammy usually uses his + healing air-type totem, since he will be in range of the totems much more than I will as a rogue. Though this is dependent of how you play as a team. Also, since good oponents usually kill the totems, he has to continuously lay them down throughout the fight.

5. Breaky Says:
   November 19th, 2007 at 10:49 pm

   I am surprised I forgot to bring that up Happypanda, about the warrior focusing me vs a Warrior/Druid combo, but tbh we haven’t had that situation yet. But if this was the case, Ziss would go jump the Druid instead and try to burn him down, which will either force the Warrior to go on the Rogue, or just end up being an outlast fight.

   We haven’t experienced that scenario yet, so I do not know how well this will work, but I will try to update that once we do experience it.

6. rob Says:
   November 19th, 2007 at 11:12 pm

   I assumed u’ve only played with that setup for 2 days and against only 1500-2100 teams(which isn’t in any form an insult, just saying

7. Snitchers Says:
   November 20th, 2007 at 2:38 am

   Nice writeup!

8. Breaky Says:
   November 20th, 2007 at 5:07 am

   Yes, you would be correct to say that we have only played this up to a 2130 rating and only for three days or so. But this article was more so meant to give an idea of the spell damage buff for healers, and give scenarios I have experienced with it in a newfound 2v2 lineup.

9. Critickle Says:
   November 20th, 2007 at 6:40 am

   I don’t think holy priest/rogue has died out at all. And it certainly got buffed with the patch, too.

10. Skel Says:
    November 20th, 2007 at 6:49 am

    wow sweet, more rogue info

    Time to rename this website roguesource

11. Kirbyrules Says:
    November 20th, 2007 at 8:01 am

    Pre 2.3 a team had already successfully used this lineup. http://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Mug%27thol&n=Blocky

12. For-the-Horde|archie (Chiar) Says:
    November 20th, 2007 at 10:09 am

    well i’m playing on the best german battlegroup and we’re ranked #1 for almost the whole season2. WE DON’T NEED NO SPELLDMG BUFF, but thanks, easy going….

13. Momrudidi Says:
    November 20th, 2007 at 11:29 am

    Hey Breaky, nice article, hope to see more 2v2 Shaman/X comp strategy articles in the future (especially Shaman/Warlock). Maybe you could even land some interviews with some of the top rated shamans to get their insights on how to break 2200+.

14. Schnuller Says:
    November 20th, 2007 at 12:03 pm

    Pre 2.3 and 2500+ rating with that lineup in the most played realmpool.

    http://eu.wowarmory.com/team-info.xml?r=Destromath&ts=2&t=Panda&select=Panda&fl=1

15. Daisyduke Says:
    November 20th, 2007 at 1:20 pm

    “put the theories to test, playing a restoration Shaman in a 2v2 makeup paired with a Rogue. Pre 2.3 this lineup was not possible for several reasons, however now I have experienced several scenarios to take advantage of the patch changes.”

    This is indeed wrong, Chiar and his Rogue partner have proven that this is a good lineup and excelled in doing that. The changes werent needed and just add to being OP if both players are actually decently equipped and good players.

16. Breaky Says:
    November 20th, 2007 at 2:57 pm

    @Everyone linking high rating rogue/shaman combo pre 2.3

    I did not mean to state that this lineup was not possible, I meant to use the phrase “not popular” which I have changed. And I did not make this article to state that because of the spell damage buff, its the only way healers can compete in 2v2, I know lineups like this existed before, even at very high ratings.

    I had played Resto Shaman/Rogue before, and although it was not for a long amount of time, we did play 2000+, and found ourselves struggling against these lineups especially. With the addition of spell damage to resto gear however, and some other changes to the resto shaman, like I stated, it made the chance of winning this match ups much more likely.

    Again, I see why people may be taking some offense to what I said about stating it was not possible, but that was a mistake on my part. But I do disagree with you saying it was OP pre patch, and now this just makes it more OP. To me, I do not consider any lineup OP, its just a matter of balance within the game. 2v2 bracket especially, class balance plays a huge role, and although I am not saying there are just some lineups other cannot beat, it can be tough and things have to more so go your way to win.

    But anyways, this was just meant to be a helpful article for post 2.3 patch, and bring up new scenarios for healers in general that may not have been open to them pre 2.3.

17. Madbone Says:
    November 20th, 2007 at 4:20 pm

    Interesting article. I am rerolling Restoration in season 3, mainly due to the 2.3 changes and the fact that Elemental is dreadful (imo) in the 2 versus 2 bracket. I’ve been wondering which setup to go for, and I will most definetly try this one out. Well written.

18. nevermore Says:
    November 20th, 2007 at 8:32 pm

    Good stuff!

19. xlx Says:
    November 21st, 2007 at 3:07 am

    What kind of macros for equipping spelldmg wepaon&shield were you talking about? Like just add the equip lines to your lightninbolt keys?

20. uka Says:
    November 21st, 2007 at 3:14 am

    disc priest do the same with their spelldmg and powerinfusion. still better to have manadrain sometimes.

21. zanzara Says:
    November 21st, 2007 at 4:37 pm

    i don t like that you all say

    chiar and his ROGUE … this rogue has a name:
    Zanzara!
    that’s me and yes 2.3 is a good patch BUT i still play combat cause i think hemo dmg is great enought when fighting longer than your cooldowns actually support you.

    nice article though !

22. Zure Says:
    November 21st, 2007 at 10:53 pm

    Though of course the article mainly uses the warrior/druid strategy listed as a method of illustrating one use of the new healing–> spell damage change, I feel this is as good a spot as any to discuss the strategy itself.

    I play a druid who often partners with a warrior. Just as a counter to Breaky’s strategy, I’d mention that the warrior should be ready to intercept the rogue when he sprints to blind (assuming the druid is properly positioned away from the warrior), then immediately hamstring (garanteed due to stun), hop into D stance with a shield, spell reflect, demo shout, intervene his druid partner, and commanding shout (I believe this will keep the druid in combat to prevent a vanish–>sap).

    Taking these steps nearly doubles the effective damage the rogue/shaman need to pump out to kill the warrior, while preventing the rogue from dealing any damage for a good portion of the blind’s duration due to intercept’s stun plus the kite time after the intervene. The shaman will also likely have range issues after the intercept+intervene.

    Saving trinket for this occasion is also helpful, as the rogue will likely attempt to save combo points before the blind for a KS on the warrior to reduce the shaman’s need to heal during the burst and, more importantly, to stop the warrior from avoiding/mitigating incoming damage. There’s little reason to use it earlier if you don’t get hungry for blood and trinket a stun when you feel the rogue is vulnerable.

    It is often all too tempting to playing overly aggressively versus combos you usually trounce (rogue teams as a warrior). Hopping into a defensive mode during adrenaline rushes and other burst opportunities plays perfectly to the strength of warrior/druid, which is to outlast the opponent, gradually wearing them down.

23. Rrav Says:
    November 23rd, 2007 at 8:36 am

    Heyas…. just wondering, how do yall think this would go with an elemental spec’d shaman? ive started pvping hard for my S1 gear when S3 comes out this following tues, so i wanna get a serious 2v2 up and running.. and have a rogue friend who needs a 2v2 =D… i would prefer to stay elemental and not turn into a healbot lawl, but will do so if need be…

    so, just wondering u guys’ thoughts..

    thanx.

24. carrion Says:
    November 23rd, 2007 at 2:41 pm

    zure are you sure the intervene + commanding will put the druid into combat

    i know they changed intervene from pulsing combat - not sure about commanding shout

25. For-the-Horde|archie (Chiar) Says:
    November 23rd, 2007 at 2:50 pm

    @rrav

    works with elemental shamans but lacks survivability for the top20 rankings…so getting your netherdrake or whatever is kindof easy going, anything that is beyond that will be tough to handle

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